A/HRC/45/9 security companies, held pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 36/11. The submission outlined key elements for an international regulatory framework for private military and security companies, arguing that a legally binding international instrument is needed.2 7. In September and October 2019, the Chair of the Working Group, Mr. Kwaja, presented its thematic reports to the Human Rights Council and General Assembly, respectively. 8. In November 2019, the Working Group organized an event entitled “The use of private military and security companies in migrant detention centres” at the Forum on Business and Human Rights, held in Geneva. Ms. Bobea chaired the panel, and Ms. Aparac presented an expert statement alongside other experts and practitioners. The panel highlighted the appalling human rights abuses in such facilities in some States in the Americas, Europe and Oceania, while a refugee recounted his first-hand experience of mistreatment suffered at the hands of private security providers while held in offshore detention.3 In May 2020, Mr. Kwaja delivered a statement at an expert virtual consultation, organized in conjunction with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Regional Office for South-East Asia, on the role of private military and security companies in immigration and border management in Asia-Pacific. 9. During the Forum on Business and Human Rights in November 2019, Ms. MacLeod participated in an interactive round table entitled “Gender guidance for the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: from paper to practice”. Also that month, the Working Group held a panel event, in conjunction with DCAF – Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance, on gender and private military and security companies, focusing on the role of States, companies and clients in addressing human rights challenges. Mr. Kwaja chaired the panel and Ms. MacLeod delivered a statement on the gendered human rights impacts of private military and security companies. 4 Another panellist presented a policy brief on gender and private security that had been produced by DCAF, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women and others, 5 and lessons she had learned while working in that sector in Guatemala. Ms. MacLeod also participated in events in London, Kharkiv, Ukraine, and Geneva on behalf of the Working Group. 10. In April 2020, the Working Group convened an expert virtual consultation on the evolving forms, trends and manifestations of mercenaries and mercenary-related activities. The consultation fed into the preparation of the Working Group’s 2020 report to the General Assembly. III. Thematic report 11. The substantive report of the Working Group focuses on the use of private military and security services in immigration and border management. Over the years, the Working Group, alongside other human rights actors, has contributed to raising awareness about the human rights impacts of certain aspects of this business sector, notably privatized immigration detention facilities, and has expressed deep concerns about its impacts on the human rights of all migrants. Other subsectors of the border security market are, however, less well-known, despite their profound ramifications for the human rights and dignity of migrants. The thematic report will shine a critical light on them. 12. The thematic report begins by laying out the contexts in which this business sector emerged and functions, highlighting the negative consequences of State approaches to migration governance in recent years, 6 and describing the multitude of corporate actors 2 3 4 5 6 See www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/WGMilitary/Pages/IGWG.aspx (in “Submissions by other stakeholders”). See www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/SecurityPrivatisationMigrationContexts.aspx. See A/74/244. See https://dcaf.ch/sites/default/files/publications/documents/GSPolicyBrief_2%20EN%20 FINAL_0.pdf. See www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Migration/MigrationHR_improvingHR_Report.pdf. 3